Visitor Identification in SQF - are Badges OK?

How are you identifying visitors in your food manufacturing facilities? The most common way is a "Visitor Badge". My worry is that the badge itself may become a foreign material hazard. On the other hand, if this is the "industry standard", I would likely require that the badges be unique [e.g., numbered] and then verified as being returned when the visitor leaves.

Any more creative ideas?

Thanks!

Most places that I visit use either a blue or red hairnet to identify a visitor.

How are you identifying visitors in your food manufacturing facilities? The most common way is a "Visitor Badge". My worry is that the badge itself may become a foreign material hazard. On the other hand, if this is the "industry standard", I would likely require that the badges be unique [e.g., numbered] and then verified as being returned when the visitor leaves.

Any more creative ideas?

Thanks!
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How are you identifying visitors in your food manufacturing facilities? The most common way is a "Visitor Badge". My worry is that the badge itself may become a foreign material hazard. On the other hand, if this is the "industry standard", I would likely require that the badges be unique [e.g., numbered] and then verified as being returned when the visitor leaves.

Any more creative ideas?

Thanks!


Big Red here, have thought of using different colour lab coats or hair nets for visitors, this gets you away from badges that at time brake & then becomes a foreign object somewhere.

Hi TLouko,

I'm considering this very question at the moment and tend to agree with GOC and Red Big on this one. It's always better to ensure that the risks of physical contaminants getting into food is as low as possible. With that in mind, I am considering the merits of different coloured hairnets or protective clothing with coloured stripes, protective clothing for visitors which is a different colour from that used by personnel and protective clothing which is embriodered with the the word "VISITOR". Cost will play a part in this of course, so I am fairly sure that the cheapest, best practicable solution will be the one we go for, which seems to be different coloured disposable hairnets.

Regards

Gloria

At our plant, visitors wear a bright yellow (school bus colored) hard hat instead of the white one used by on-site personnel, and it is part of our food safety training to let employees know that visitors can be spotted by their hard hat color. This would eliminate your concern about foreign material hazard of badges. However, if your facility does not require hardhats, I like the idea of a different color hairnet/PPE covering, etc.

We also have all guests sign a visitor log, but frequent guests (vending machine employees, pest control technicians, etc.) are issued a laminated card that they carry in their wallet that allows them to enter the facility without having to fill out all the visitor forms each time. This way, we save a tree or two due to less paperwork, and we don't add a potential foreign material hazard to the mix by issuing badges.

Everywhere I have worked we have used different colored frocks for:

Plant personnel - raw
Plant personnel - RTE
Maintenance personnel
Visitors

Regular plant workers are in white, with different colored collars to distinguish between raw and RTE sections of the facility...
Maintenance and visitors would be in unique solid colored coats so as to easily identify them.